This report is issued by the Administrator of the National Health Funding Pool under section 240 of the National Health Reform Act 2011.

This report is prepared on a cash basis. It shows monthly and year-to-date (YTD) National Health Reform (NHR) funding and payments for Western Australia for August 2013 as part of the National Health Reform Agreement.

Local hospital networks and National Health Reform

A local hospital network (LHN) is an organisation that provides public hospital services in accordance with the Agreement. An LHN can contain one or more hospitals, and is usually defined as a business group, geographical area or community. Every Australian public hospital is part of an LHN.

Note: The term ‘local hospital network’ is a national term. Some states and territories use their own terminology to describe these networks, such as local health districts, health organisations, and hospital and health services.

Under the Agreement, LHNs receive funding for the following public hospital services:

All admitted and non-admitted services

All emergency department services provided by a recognised emergency department

Other outpatient, mental health, sub-acute services and other services that could reasonably be considered a public hospital service.

Note: LHNs also receive funding from other sources, including the Commonwealth, states and territories, and third parties for the provision of other specific functions and services outside the scope of the Agreement, for example dental services, primary care, home and community care, residential aged care and pharmaceuticals. For further information on total funding to a particular LHN, contact the WA Department of Health to view the service agreement for that LHN.

Basis for National Health Reform payments – Western Australia, August 2013

The basis used to determine NHR payments to LHNs in Western Australia for August 2013 was advised by the WA Department of Health to be as follows:

The 2013-14 annual funding allocations have been developed using the Western Australian Activity Based Funding program methodology. Activity profiles have been developed consistent with the WA Health clinical services framework. The funding allocations include activity based services, block funded services and specified programs.

The national ABF classifications and associated price weights including all of the adjustments (Specialised Paediatric, Rural/remote, Indigenous, ICU and private patient) have been used to define activity based funding profiles.

The State Transitioning Price, calculated using a methodology more closely aligned to the National ABF framework, provide a more transparent basis for comparing the cost of delivering hospital services in Western Australia against the national cost benchmark (Projected Average Cost (PAC)). The gap between the total price of all hospital activity funded at the State Transition Price and the total cost of all hospital activity funded at the PAC, is called the Community Service Subsidy (CSS) payment.

Block funding is based on budget to budget build from the previous year using State Government funding parameters consistent with the State budget.

Reference information

The financial information outlined in the following report is categorised as:

NHR funding – when the Commonwealth or state or territory government pays NHR funding into a state pool account or state managed fund.

NHR payments – when NHR funding that has been deposited into a state pool account or state managed fund is paid out of the state pool account by the Administrator, or is paid out of the state managed fund by the state or territory.

State pool account transactions

This table shows funding paid into the Western Australian state pool account by the Commonwealth, Western Australia or other states/territories, and payments out of the state pool account to LHNs, the state managed fund, the WA Department of Health or the state pool accounts of other states/territories for August 2013.

Following on from table 1a, this table shows year-to-date (YTD) funding paid into the Western Australian state pool account by the Commonwealth, Western Australia or other states/territories, and payments out of the state pool account to LHNs, the state managed fund, the WA Department of Health or the state pool accounts of other states/territories as at August 2013.

Commonwealth ABF funding represents Acute admitted public, Acute admitted private, Non-admitted, and Emergency department, Sub-acute, and Admitted mental health service categories, which are funded by the Commonwealth through the state pool account and subsequently paid to LHNs.

Commonwealth Block funding represents Non-admitted mental health, Small rural hospitals, Teaching, training & research, and Other non-admitted categories, which are funded by the Commonwealth and paid to the state managed fund.

Commonwealth Other funding represents other amounts funded by the Commonwealth, transacted through the state pool account and subsequently paid to state or territory health departments. This currently represents the Commonwealth contribution to public health.

WA funding represents funding contributions paid by Western Australia into its own state pool account, and subsequently paid to LHNs within the state, to the Western Australian health department and/or to other state pool accounts.

Other state/territory funding represents contributions paid to Western Australia by other states and territories for cross-border activity.

Note: The grey shaded areas in these tables reflect that these amounts are not applicable for a particular 'paid out' column. For example, Commonwealth block funding is only paid to state managed funds and is not applicable for local hospital networks or state or territory health departments.

NHR funding and payments shown in these tables include GST where applicable.

State managed fund transactions

This table shows funding paid into the Western Australian state managed fund by the Commonwealth and Western Australia, and payments out of the state managed fund to local hospital networks and other provider organisations for August 2013.

Following on from table 2a, this table shows year-to-date (YTD) funding paid into the Western Australian state managed fund by the Commonwealth and Western Australia, and YTD payments out of the state managed fund to LHNs and other provider organisations as at August 2013.

Commonwealth Block funding represents Commonwealth block funding contributions paid into the state managed fund from the state pool account, and block payments out of the state managed fund to LHNs and other provider organisations.

State/territory Block funding represents Western Australian block funding contributions into the state managed fund, and block payments out of the state managed fund to LHNs and other provider organisations.

Note: The grey shaded areas in these tables reflect that these block payments cannot at this stage be identified by source of funding (state, territory or Commonwealth contribution).

NHR funding and payments shown in these tables include GST where applicable.

NHR funding and payments by service category

Table 3 – NHR funding and payments by service category – Western Australia, August 2013

This table shows NHR funding and payments by service category on both a monthly and year-to-date (YTD) basis for Western Australia for August 2013. NHR funding and payments are separated into the following service categories – activity-based funding (ABF), block funding, and other funding.

Total ABF (Pool) is an aggregate of both Commonwealth and state or territory NHR funding and payments for activity-based funding (ABF) which is transacted through the state pool account.

Total Block (SMF) is an aggregate of both Commonwealth and state or territory NHR funding and payments for block funding which is transacted through the state managed fund (SMF).

Total Other (Pool) represents other funding and payments, which are transacted through the state pool account, including public health funding, overdeposits, cross-border funding and payments, and interest.

State and territory cross-border payments can either be:

Paid to the relevant state or territory's LHNs - included within ABF and/or block payments in the above table, or

Reimbursed to the relevant state or territory where the state or territory's LHNs are already being funded for the cost of treating cross-border patients - shown in the Cross-border row under Other in the above table.

NHR funding and payments shown in these tables include GST where applicable.

NHR contributions in this table are GST exclusive to enable comparability of NHR payments in each local hospital network report.

Note: This table excludes GST. The majority of government funding to LHNs is not subject to GST. However in some cases hospital funding to non-government entities does attract GST, for example, denominational hospitals, privately and commercially owned health facilities, or any other non-government third party provider of health services or related supplies.

Estimated monthly, YTD and annual activity

States and territories provide service volume estimates at the start of each financial year, and if required, can continue to refine these estimates during the course of the year. These estimates form the basis of monthly reporting of service volumes until actual service numbers become available. These estimates are expressed as National Weighted Activity Units (NWAU).

States and territories provide estimated annual NWAU to the Administrator as a basis for determining the Commonwealth activity-based funding. Current month NWAU estimates accumulate through the year-to-date (YTD) NWAU, to be equal to the annual NWAU at the end of the financial year.

States and territories may also provide activity information relating to the delivery of other public hospital functions funded.

This table shows estimated state or territory hospital activity for activity-based funding services expressed as NWAU for August 2013, the associated cumulative year-to-date (YTD), and total estimated annual NWAU for each LHN in Western Australia.

An NWAU is a measure of health service activity expressed as a common unit. It provides a way of comparing and valuing each public hospital service, whether they are admissions, emergency department presentations or outpatient episodes, by weighting them for their clinical complexity. The average hospital service is worth one NWAU - the most intensive and expensive activities are worth multiple NWAU, the simplest and least expensive are worth fractions of an NWAU.

Monthly NHR payments relate to the cash needs of public hospitals and do not necessarily reflect the volume of services to be delivered in the month.